> The angry mob on reddit fueled by RPS and other places hungry for pageviews
This seems to imply that Rock Paper Shotgun is printing sensationalized fluff. I don't think that's a fair characterization at all. As gaming news sites go, I'd say Rock Paper Shotgun is generally pretty thoughtful and reasonable, and thus it's built up a lot of credibility with a lot of people. Is it really being "hungry for pageviews" to report that important statements made about a game's underlying technology are patently false? Because to me that just sounds like good journalism — the kind that the gaming industry could use more of.
A year ago RPS did an interview where they talked about how the simulation was going to be done.
“It’s not like each Sim has a specific job that’s his, and a specific house that’s his,” says lead designer Stone Librande, like this knowledge might mitigate the situation. Instead, each Sim that will inhabit your thriving metropolis (or crime-ridden housing project, as the case may be) will wake up each morning and start the day by looking for a new job – if they’re not sick, that is, in which case they’ll look for a hospital. And every evening, that same Sim will leave work and take a moment to look for a new place to live. Filling out employment applications and being interviewed by already-unbearable roommates every single day. Oh, the humanity!
Then when they realize how much everyone hates the game they talk about how the simulation was nothing like they were promised.
These are reports, of course, and we’re not experts when it comes to AI. But what we’re seeing people say is rather than each Sim having a unique life, they’re instead operating on the same sort of systems that control the sewage and traffic. Which seems rude. It also explains why there appear to be lots of rather odd behaviours found in the game, with distribution of jobs, buses, and the like feeling a touch odd.
...
But where it gets even weirder is when their work day is through. They don’t trundle off back to their well-loved home, as you might imagine a Sim would do. They, just as with work, move into the nearest available house. There’s no consistency to their lives, no permanence.
I don't think "how much everyone hates it" has anything to do with the reporting, in fact, just like the rest of us, they were probably operating on information provided to them by the developers, and just like the rest of us, are slowly finding out mechanics of the game are not what they were said to be at all.
some people just see what they want to see, though, I suppose.
If you read the comment you replied to, you would see that at least on one occasion, RPS were supplied exactly the same information by developers that they are now complaining about in the final game, seemingly because there are angry mob page views to be had from reddit by feigning indignation.
Eh, that quote from a year ago isn't entirely clear on how they will look for a new job. I'm sure if the implications of the AI behavior were clear then, there would have been at least some raised eyebrows.
This seems to imply that Rock Paper Shotgun is printing sensationalized fluff. I don't think that's a fair characterization at all. As gaming news sites go, I'd say Rock Paper Shotgun is generally pretty thoughtful and reasonable, and thus it's built up a lot of credibility with a lot of people. Is it really being "hungry for pageviews" to report that important statements made about a game's underlying technology are patently false? Because to me that just sounds like good journalism — the kind that the gaming industry could use more of.